Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In any event, I will deal with the amendments. I intend to dwell primarily on amendment No. 2, which suggests that the following be inserted into the Bill: "makes, manages or directs the making of any relevant communications to any member of Government in relation to appointments to State Boards". Any person who is involved in any such communications should be included under what will, following the acceptance of amendment No. 1, be henceforth be referred to as the Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014.

I wish to reiterate the point I made on Committee Stage regarding the appointment of John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in a botched attempt to have him elected to the Seanad. In recent weeks the Government Chief Whip referred to what was done in this instance as "underhand". The public believe this was the case. I do not believe that any person of honesty or integrity could state that what was done was anything other than underhand. The majority of members of the public will accept that this is the case. If any politician stated that what was done constituted a proper way to do business, I am of the view that he or she would do damage to the political system. Amendment No. 2 suggests that the Bill should make provision in respect of any person who "makes, manages or directs the making of any relevant communications to any member of Government in relation to appointments to State Boards". In other words, the actions of anyone who lobbies a Minister in respect of an appointment to a State board should be contemplated under the legislation. If the Bill does not make provision in respect of such appointments, then I am of the view that there will be a major gap in it.

This is a very good item of legislation in many respects, and I said as much on Second Stage. The Committee Stage debate proved quite fruitful and a number of amendments have subsequently been tabled in respect of voluntary organisations, etc. Those amendments will be extremely helpful and Members on all sides will agree that the legislation will be improved by them. However, lobbying in respect of appointments to State boards continues to be excluded from the Bill. That does not do anyone any good and it will diminish public confidence in the legislation. During the Christmas recess, I stated that the acid test in respect of the Bill would be whether it captured this basic issue. If it does so, then it will be good legislation. If it cannot do so, however, it will contain a fundamental weakness. The Minister will state that the legislation - in terms of its operation - will be reviewed 12 months after it has been enacted. Perhaps he will exclude the matter to which I refer from that review.

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